Romans 5:12

The Amplification of Justification

5:12 So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all people ¹  because ²  all sinned –

Romans 5:15

5:15 But the gracious gift is not like the transgression. ³  For if the many died through the transgression of the one man, ⁴  how much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ multiply to the many!

Romans 5:19

5:19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man ⁵  many ⁶  were made sinners, so also through the obedience of one man ⁷  many ⁸  will be made righteous.

Romans 3:19-20

3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under ⁹  the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 3:20 For no one is declared righteous before him ¹⁰  by the works of the law, ¹¹  for through the law comes ¹²  the knowledge of sin.

[5:12]  ¹ tn Here ἀνθρώπους (anqrwpou") has been translated as a generic (“people”) since both men and women are clearly intended in this context.

[5:12]  ² tn The translation of the phrase ἐφ᾿ ᾧ (ef Jw) has been heavily debated. For a discussion of all the possibilities, see C. E. B. Cranfield, “On Some of the Problems in the Interpretation of Romans 5.12,” SJT 22 (1969): 324-41. Only a few of the major options can be mentioned here: (1) the phrase can be taken as a relative clause in which the pronoun refers to Adam, “death spread to all people in whom [Adam] all sinned.” (2) The phrase can be taken with consecutive (resultative) force, meaning “death spread to all people with the result that all sinned.” (3) Others take the phrase as causal in force: “death spread to all people because all sinned.”

[5:15]  ³ tn Grk “but not as the transgression, so also [is] the gracious gift.”

[5:15]  ⁴ sn Here the one man refers to Adam (cf. 5:14).

[5:19]  ⁵ sn Here the one man refers to Adam (cf. 5:14).

[5:19]  ⁶ tn Grk “the many.”

[5:19]  ⁷ sn One man refers here to Jesus Christ.

[5:19]  ⁸ tn Grk “the many.”

[3:19]  ⁹ tn Grk “in,” “in connection with.”

[3:20]  ¹⁰ sn An allusion to Ps 143:2.

[3:20]  ¹¹ tn Grk “because by the works of the law no flesh is justified before him.” Some recent scholars have understood the phrase ἒργα νόμου (erga nomou, “works of the law”) to refer not to obedience to the Mosaic law generally, but specifically to portions of the law that pertain to things like circumcision and dietary laws which set the Jewish people apart from the other nations (e.g., J. D. G. Dunn, Romans [WBC], 1:155). Other interpreters, like C. E. B. Cranfield (“‘The Works of the Law’ in the Epistle to the Romans,” JSNT 43 [1991]: 89-101) reject this narrow interpretation for a number of reasons, among which the most important are: (1) The second half of v. 20, “for through the law comes the knowledge of sin,” is hard to explain if the phrase “works of the law” is understood in a restricted sense; (2) the plural phrase “works of the law” would have to be understood in a different sense from the singular phrase “the work of the law” in 2:15; (3) similar phrases involving the law in Romans (2:13, 14; 2:25, 26, 27; 7:25; 8:4; and 13:8) which are naturally related to the phrase “works of the law” cannot be taken to refer to circumcision (in fact, in 2:25 circumcision is explicitly contrasted with keeping the law). Those interpreters who reject the “narrow” interpretation of “works of the law” understand the phrase to refer to obedience to the Mosaic law in general.

[3:20]  ¹² tn Grk “is.”